The idea of a darker pattern being required for outdoor wear, so that
its wearer would stand out less clearly on the open hillside, is again
Victorian in origin. It is possible that the demand arose because of the
very harsh colours of the early synthetic dyes. In most cases the hunting
tartans were made, like dress tartans,
by another change in the ground colour with, for example, a red ground
becoming either brown, blue or green.

The desired effect was for camouflage or practicality. The special
concept of hunting was related to the development of highland estates for
use by the gentry and some chiefs themselves, in late Victorian times. The
hunting tartans must then have carried considerable class symbolism to a
wider market.